Business Wire Sponsoring the 2013 PYMNTS Innovation Project

PYMNTS.com is the number one B2B information platform for the payments industry, and Business Wire has been closely involved with it since its inception. This year, we’re proud to be a sponsor of their invitation-only event, The Innovation Project.

This two-day event, being held March 20-21 at Harvard University, promises to be the payments industry’s most exciting and interesting event of the year. Over 2 days, 100 speakers and 500 senior industry members will assemble to kick the conversation about innovation up to an entirely different level. Speakers and delegates are among the most senior executives from literally every established payments company worldwide, along with the CEOs of the most innovative start-ups from Adyen to iZettle.

The keynote speaker for this year’s event is Warren Buffett; other speakers and participants include Eric Reis of The Lean Start Up; former US Vice President Al Gore; Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics; US Treasurer Rosie Rios; Russell Simmons of Rushcard, and many more. Among the activities to be featured:

In the ThinkAThon™, fifteen teams will compete in front of a panel of expert judges for the title of Payments Guru as they devise the best practical solution for five of the industry’s most vexing problems. Team captains are given the floor to deliver a keynote that makes their team’s case to the judges and to the audience and an opportunity to publish their solution in a ThinkAThon™ eBook.

Seven “Up Close and Personal” Live Sessions will pair celebrated thought leaders with prominent CEOs to share how they have applied the very best principles of innovation in their own organizations. Several lucky audience members will have a chance to join them on stage.

The 2013 PYMNTS.com Innovator Awards will once again celebrate the sectors’ most innovative players. (More than 500 submissions for awards have already been received.) The award categories have been expanded from five to fifteen this year – and a Lifetime Achievement Award will honor the special contributions of an innovator in this space. Actor/producer B.J. Novak of The Office fame will be the emcee for the night.

Finally the Crystal Ball – more beer bash than ball – will celebrate the achievements over the two days and cement the friendships and networks that the Innovation Project™ has helped to foster.